Friday, October 15, 2010

Interlude 1



I had a friend who recommended the Illuminatus! trilogy to me. I'm not sure why, since I don't believe in many of the popular conspiracy theories in recent times relating to the Illuminati - most of them just don't make sense. They are too complicated and too coordinated and we know by now that humans are simple and chaotic beings. Just because they are in a government doesn't mean they can control those things. And I don't usually read fiction. The truth is much more interesting than fiction, because it is so hard to reach. Fiction is everywhere, even in these things we call truths. We're being fed fiction every day by the media, by the history books, by the internet, by our friends. Why would I need deceit that everyone knows is deceit? Is it better than deceit that tries to play itself off as true? Maybe on a moral standpoint, but surely if no one even tries to believe it then it's even more of a failure than the "facts" we're fed every day. My friend tells me that fiction is true "on an emotional level" - what on Earth is that supposed to mean? That is one of those times where I just stared at him, dumbfounded, and didn't try to argue. It was just so incredibly stupid that I didn't know how to respond.

But I have been reading this Illuminatus! trilogy, and I've been finding it quite interesting so far. The perspective changes rapidly, the narrator's voice is straightforward and to the point, and it harks back to an era when I still believed fiction had a purpose somewhere in this murky cosmos. It is much more interesting than I thought it would be. Perhaps my friend has a point, to a certain extent.

I think my uncle has done too many drugs. We are both sort of ostracized in our family for believing in strange things, so sometimes we have a sort of solidarity in that we are the only ones we can have conversations with on holidays and the like. But sometimes I tend to agree more with my sister about his ideas, even though she ridicules my theories as well. I once had a friend who did quite a few drugs (I don't use them myself), and sometimes I could tell he was high while we were talking, just in his body language or ways of speech (though the smells helped too). My uncle talks just like my old friend did during those times, but I know that at this point he is stone cold sober except for what they give him for his cancer. I suppose he was just never able to escape the sixties. I hope he gets better. I've always enjoyed talking to him, since he'll take me seriously and give me new things to think about that I never would have come up with on my own, but in the last few years it's been hard to really connect with him. I hope he gets better.

I have a new article that I will put up on here soon, but I wanted to make sure it was done well before I published it. I wouldn't want to give you bad information!

1 comment:

  1. great post, I may look into reading this and am looking forward to your article and hopefully you can improve your relationship with your uncle, sometimes people just need someone to reach out.

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